🇳🇬NigeriaWest Africa
Japan moves to block foreign buyout of industrial machine maker over security concerns
via Punch Nigeria1 min read
Japan is seeking to block a takeover attempt by South Korea-based private equity fund MBK Partners of Makino Milling, a key industrial machine maker, citing national security concerns. Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama stated that the government determined it is “essential to recommend the suspension” of MBK Partners' bid to fully acquire Tokyo-based Makino Milling, described as “the world’s leading manufacturer of machine tools.” The minister noted that Makino Milling’s products are “widely used by our country’s defence equipment manufacturers,” and recognized “the risk that the investment in question can undermine our country’s security.” The recommendation was issued on Wednesday. Founded in 1937, Makino Milling provides tools for sectors including aerospace, automobile, medicine, and semiconductors. This marks reportedly only the second time a suspension edict has been issued under Japan’s foreign exchange and trade laws to prevent national security risks. MBK Partners, notified by the government that Makino Milling’s products include “sensitive goods with a particularly high potential for military use,” expressed surprise, as the takeover was slated for approval by late June. The fund has until May 1 to decide whether to comply with the suspension advisory.
Free daily or weekly digest of the most important stories from across 10 countries. No spam, unsubscribe any time.
This summary was AI-generated from a story originally published by Punch Nigeria.
Must ReadChina's Artificial Intelligence sector is experiencing rapid growth, with companies like DeepSeek releasing new large language models. This progress occurs despite US export restrictions on advanced microchips. Chinese internet giants Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent are investing in AI, leveraging their user bases and cloud infrastructure. Baidu, known for its "Ernie" tool, has focused on AI for over a decade. Alibaba's open-source "Qwen" AI models are popular with programmers, and its chatbot app had over 200 million monthly active users in January. Tencent, a gaming and social media firm, launched an AI model in 2023 and a chatbot in 2024, with its founder Pony Ma emphasizing AI investment. ByteDance, the company behind TikTok, is shifting its focus to AI, with its Doubao chatbot being the most popular in China, boasting over 100 million daily active users. Its SeeDance 2.0 AI video generator has raised concerns about copyright and job losses. Startup DeepSeek, which began as a hedge fund side project in 2023, gained global attention with its "R1" model in January 2025, challenging assumptions of US dominance. Its newest V4 model, released Friday, promises performance similar to leading closed-source models at a lower cost, featuring an ultra-long context of one million tokens and 1.6 trillion parameters for the Pro version. DeepSeek stated that DeepSeek-V4-Pro significantly leads other open-source models and is only slightly outperformed by Google's Gemini-Pro-3.1 in world kno
Must ReadA global vaccination initiative, the Big Catch-Up program, has reached 18.3 million children across 36 countries, delivering over 100 million doses of vaccines between 2023 and 2025. The program, a collaboration between Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the World Health Organization, and UNICEF, aimed to close immunization gaps and restore routine health services disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Approximately 12.3 million of the children reached were "zero-dose" children, who had never received any vaccine, and about 15 million had not been vaccinated against measles. The initiative also administered 23 million doses of inactivated polio vaccine. The 36 participating countries, primarily in Africa and Asia, account for about 60 percent of the world's zero-dose children. The program expanded its focus to include older children aged one to five, strengthening health systems, training workers, and updating eligibility policies. Ethiopia vaccinated over 2.5 million previously zero-dose children, and Nigeria reached around two million. Despite these gains, the agencies stressed that strengthening routine immunization systems is crucial, as 14.3 million infants in 2024 did not receive a single routine vaccine, leading to a sharp rise in measles outbreaks. Tedros Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization, noted the program helped reverse a major negative consequence of the pandemic. Catherine Russell, Executive Director of UNICEF, and Sania Nishtar, Chief Executive
Must ReadChinese startup DeepSeek has released a new Artificial Intelligence model, claiming "drastically reduced" costs. This follows their 2025 R1 reasoning model, which matched US rivals' capabilities and was developed at a fraction of the cost. Founded by Liang Wenfeng in Hangzhou, DeepSeek began as a side project of his hedge fund in 2023. The company's R1 model, released in January 2025, led to a US tech share sell-off and was described by venture capitalist Marc Andreessen as a "Sputnik moment." DeepSeek's AI tools, like other Chinese chatbots, avoid topics censored in China, leading to bans or restrictions on government devices in several countries, including the United States, Australia, and South Korea. Despite this, its low cost and ease of deployment have made it popular in developing countries, holding four percent of the global chatbot market share, compared to ChatGPT's 68 percent. DeepSeek's systems are open-source, a strategy also adopted by other major Chinese AI players like Alibaba, in contrast to the closed models of Western rivals. The success of DeepSeek has boosted China's AI sector, with other Chinese AI startups like Zhipu AI and MiniMax seeing strong market debuts. However, DeepSeek's rise has faced controversy, with reports suggesting the company may have circumvented a US ban on exporting high-end chips to China to train its new V4 model. DeepSeek did not respond to requests for comment on these allegations, and NVIDIA stated they had not seen evidence of
Laboratory workers in research, testing, calibration, schools, and manufacturing sectors urged the Federal and Oyo State Governments to enhance their remuneration and address the poor regulation of sachet water production in Iseyin and Oke-Ogun areas of Oyo State. This call was made during the 2026 World Laboratory Day in Iseyin, organized by Lab21 Services Limited and the Association of Analytical and Calibration Laboratory Directors. Participants attributed the rise in waterborne diseases, lead poisoning, and typhoid-related deaths to the negligence of regulatory bodies like the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control NAFDAC and the Standards Organisation of Nigeria SON. Taslim Owonikoko, Chairman of the event and Chief Executive Officer of BEREKOTRY Ltd, emphasized the need for governments to prioritize laboratory workers' pay to curb the migration of professionals abroad, highlighting their essential role in health, manufacturing, and education. Femi Oyediran, event organizer and CEO of BEREKOTRY Ltd, called for a review of regulatory and monitoring systems for consumables, particularly sachet water, noting that current NAFDAC and SON tests for manufacturers last two years without further checks. He stressed that regular checks are crucial, as water contamination has been linked to many deadly diseases. Oyediran also advocated for improved collaboration among health sector stakeholders to strengthen global health security and ensure human, animal, env